It is common to use an electrical iron for removing creases from garments laid out on an ironing board. In many instances, the iron has an electrical cord with a plug at its free end which is plugged into a domestic electrical mains socket to provide power to the heating element of the iron. The surface of the ironing board on which ironing takes place is normally positioned above the point at which the cord is plugged into the electrical socket and so the cord trails from the iron and freely hangs over the edge of the ironing board down towards the socket.
It is common for the cord to get in the user's way when moving the iron across garments placed on the ironing board. Moreover, as the cord hangs against the edge of the board it often interferes and rubs against garments that are hanging over the edge as the iron is moved backwards and forwards. This movement drags against, and creates wrinkles in, the fabric making the ironing process more difficult and time consuming. It also causes wear to both the fabric and the cord. Furthermore, although movement of the iron across the fabric in a forward direction, i.e. in a direction that pulls the cord up and across the ironing board, draws the cord across a garment lying on the board, the cord may not always drop back on the return stroke of the iron and it may just buckle or flex and lie flat on the ironed fabric or on the board surface. This can be annoying to a user as they have to lift the iron off the board to reposition the cord or to allow it to drop under its own weight back off the surface of the board. It also increases the possibility that inadvertent contact may occur between the cord and the hot soleplate of the iron which may cause irreparable damage and could be dangerous.
Cord guides for irons in the form of a wand or antenna having a loop or opening through which the cord extends above an ironing board are known. These cord guides are all designed to support the cord at an elevated position above the board, thereby substantially preventing all contact of the cord with the ironing board surface. However, although this type of cord guide keeps the cord out of the way of both the board and garments placed upon it, they do not generally allow the cord to slide freely during ironing as the cord must extend upwardly from an iron on the board to the loop or opening in the end of the antenna positioned above it. Therefore, although the cord may slide freely through the loop or opening when the iron is moved across the fabric being ironed in a forward direction away from the antenna, and the cord is pulled through the loop or opening, the weight of the cord hanging down from the antenna may not be sufficient to pull the cord back through the loop or opening when the iron is moved in a direction back towards the antenna. Instead, the cord simply buckles or flexes and lies on the surface of the ironing board. As well as restricting free movement of the cord, the wand or antenna type cord guides are generally bulky and eventually cause wear to the cord due to the relatively high level of friction between the cord and the loop or opening. A typical cord guide of the aforementioned type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,767.
There are also devices having an antenna to which a cord of an iron is attached so that there is little or no relative movement between the cord and the antenna. Instead, the antenna is made from a resiliently flexible material so that it bends in response to a forward movement of the appliance and as a result of the cord pulling on the antenna, with the aim of keeping the cord relatively straight or taut above the board. However, this works only in a limited area of the board and the fixed length of cord between the iron and the antenna needs readjusting every few minutes. The user also experiences a resistance or backward pull due to the resilience of the antenna which can cause discomfort, especially during prolonged periods of ironing.
In addition to the aforementioned problems, all the antenna type devices are generally bulky and costly.
Another type of garment care device is a so-called hand-held steamer, such as those known from US20050132761A1 or CA2416078A1, which is used to remove wrinkles or creases from clothes or fabric in any orientation, such as whilst they are hanging on a support or stand which may or may not be integral with, or form part of, the appliance. CA2416078A1 discloses a device in which the hand-held steamer comprises a housing which is held in the hand and has a nozzle for the ejection of steam from the housing onto garments being steamed. The housing contains a water reservoir, pump and a steam generator/heater. An electrical supply cord extends from the housing to provide power to the appliance. An appliance of this type is generally used to apply steam to garments whilst they are hanging from a support that does not form part of the appliance itself or, for steaming curtains without removing them from the curtain rail from which they are hung. US2005013261A discloses another type of hand-held steamer which includes a base unit. A flexible hose extends from the base unit to a hand-held housing having a nozzle for the ejection of steam. Another device is known in which the housing comprises a steam generator/heater, but the reservoir is contained within the base and a flexible tube supplies water to the steam generator in the housing. Alternatively, both the reservoir and the steam generator/heater may be mounted in the base, in which case, steam is supplied to the housing via the flexible tube. The housing may also include a suction fan to suck steam into the housing and return condensate back into the reservoir in the base via a flexible tube.
With the hand-held steamers of the type described above, the housing is generally moved upwardly and downwardly rather than from side-to-side, as with a conventional iron when used together with an ironing board. However, even with this type of device, the flex or tube hanging down from the appliance can get in the way.